REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AND THE FIRST LADY
TO THE TROOPS
Club 21
Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina

5:30 P.M. (L)

MRS. CLINTON: Thank you, General. I'm just glad to be
back. I was here with Chelsea in March of '96. And as we've been
meeting some of you around the camp, I've encountered a few people
who were there when I was here before. And I'm glad to see all of
you. I understand they closed Camp Alisha. I went out there, but I
also went to Camp Bedrock, which I'd heard mentioned just a few
minutes ago by the General. And I'm so proud to be back here again
with our daughter, Chelsea, and with my husband and with the entire
delegation that has accompanied the President.

I know how tough it must be for all of you to be away
from your families at any time, but especially this time of year.
And we've been trying to think of a way to help you stay in touch
with them. And so we've been talking to some people, and they asked
me to make the following announcement: that AT&T, working with the
Department of Defense, has donated $1 million so that each and every
one of you stationed in Bosnia, Croatia and Hungary will have an
hour's worth of free phone time to share with your families.
(Cheers).

And I know that during this holiday when my family is
together, one of the things we will be grateful for is the service of
each and every one of you. When I returned from Bosnia the last
time, I spent many, many hours telling Americans what I had seen and
learned; what I had heard from people just like you about what you
were doing here, what your mission was, what the General aptly called
you as peacemakers men.

And I remember telling a lot of Americans what it felt
like for me as an American when I got off the helicopters at Camp
Bedrock and Camp Alisha, and I walked out to greet our troops, and I
saw men and women from every part of America. I saw white faces and
black faces and brown faces. I heard accents from every region. I
met young men and women who had come from every different kind of
background you can imagine. And I've never been prouder to be an
American. And I felt that if there were one message we could give
the people of Bosnia and indeed the entire world, it would be look at
America; look at the American military; see what we do together; how
we overcome our differences to be a team on behalf of peace.

And I want to thank all of you for making that come true
every single day. I am so grateful to you, everyone who is here.
And I think so many Americans who are at home are going to be saying
a special prayer for each of you and for your families, who are also
making sacrifice for you to serve.

Thank you, and God bless all of you. Merry Christmas
and Happy New Year. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you for your laid-back welcome.
(Laughter.) Thank you, General Ellis. Ladies and gentlemen, I have
come here with a great delegation of Americans, including the
Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Army, the Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe; many
other distinguished military officials and officials from the White
House; and a truly astonishing delegation from Congress, of both
Democrats and Republicans together.

And let me say, we came here for two reasons today. We
came here, first of all, to say thank you to all of you. To say what
you are doing for your country is a good and noble thing. You are
doing it well and we are grateful. We know it's tough to be away
from home at Christmas time. We know it's hard to be away from your
families. But you are doing something profoundly important.

The second reason we came here was so that we could go
to Sarajevo and see the leaders of the Muslims, the Croations and the
Serbs, and tell them that they made an agreement at Dayton that we
are doing our dead-level best to help them enforce. And they
promised that they would live and work together and build one country
without ethnic prejudice or unfairness to any group; that we would
not only end a war, that they would build a peace together. And that
we in the United States were determined not only to do our part, but
we expected them to do theirs. And these good people in Bosnia,
these little children, who have suffered so much, they deserve
leaders who honor the commitments they made at Dayton and build a
better, brighter future.

And we wanted to do that with one voice, without regard
to party. So I want to say a special word of thanks to Senator Bob
Dole and Mrs. Elizabeth Dole for coming. (Applause). And I would
like to give -- senators talk like this all the time; I don't quite
know how to do it, but I think this is called yielding a portion of
my time. I'd like for Bob Dole to come up here and say a few words.
(Applause).

SENATOR DOLE: This is a pretty good speech, maybe I'll
just go ahead and give it. (Laughter). Well, this is one place I
don't need an I.D. -- (laughter) -- and I'm very honored to be here.
I haven't seen this many people since the election, so I want to
thank you all for getting together. (Cheers.)

But let me underscore what the First Lady and the
President have said. We're here for a couple of reasons. One is to
say hello to you on behalf of all Americans, all grateful Americans,
on behalf of our delegation; another is to our concern about your
well-being and concern about the future of Bosnia, concern about our
role in the world as the preeminent leader. So we want to wish you
all the best.

I'm also here to support the President in this effort.
I believe it is worthwhile. And I hope you believe the effort in
Bosnia is worthwhile. (Cheers.) And the President in no uncertain
terms, he's just stated, told the three leaders today that they need
to move a little faster -- I can't quote the exact words, but that
was sort of what it sounded like to me. (Laughter.)

And he was correct. We don't like to keep anybody away
from their families. You don't like to be away from your families.
And hopefully one of these days very soon, there will be a successful
conclusion, and these three countries can govern themselves and you
can go home, and we'll be very grateful for the service you've
rendered to the United States of America and to the people in
Bosnia-Herzegovina.

So I want to say, just as somebody who's out of work
-- you've got all those phone calls, if you need a lawyer, give me a
ring. (Laughter). If you can't find me, just call the Red Cross.
(Applause).

Thank you all very much, and God bless America. Thank
you. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Dole. Thank you for
not reading my speech. (Laughter.) I like the one you gave.

Let me first of all say that I'm delighted to be here
with the Iron Soldiers of the First Armored Division -- (cheers);
with the Second Armored Calvary and all of the other -- (cheers) --
all of the other units of Task Force Eagle. But I also want the
people back home to know, through our friends in the press who are
here, that there are a lot of National Guardsmen and Reservists here.
(Cheers.) And I thank all of you.

Hillary and I, along with the phone time that you all
get -- I hope you enjoy that hour on the telephone. (Cheers.) I
know you're all sitting there thinking, am I going to use it all at
one time or am I going to divide it up? Am I going to call four
people or just one? Decisions, decisions.

We were able to bring some school supplies over here
with us, some toys as well. And I know you're going to be able to
distribute those to children here who are needy and deserving. I
want to thank especially Lieutenant Colonel Mark Little, who started
the program -- (cheers) -- to take care of these children who have
been so hurt in this war and who have given thousands of Americans
the chance to serve through it.

A few moments ago we gave some of those presents to some
Bosnian children, and I wish all of you could have been there with
me. I wish all of you could have been with Hillary and Chelsea and
me earlier today when we sat around a table in a coffee shop in
Sarajevo and talked to a dozen young people -- Muslims, Serbs, Croats
-- all from Bosnia. And I said, you know, I'm going to see our
soldiers today, and if we could do one more thing for your country,
what would you like us to do? And every one of them, it was like a
chorus, they said, stay; stay just a little longer; we can't
-- we're not ready yet. But the young people want peace. We don't
understand why we're supposed to hate each other. We don't want that
kind of future. Please stay.

And then we walked outside this coffee shop in Sarajevo
and there were three American soldiers who happened to be from
Virginia -- (cheers) -- across the street, standing in front of a
church. And Hillary and Chelsea went over there, and I got out, and
I went over and shook hands with them. And they said, we are really
proud to be here because we are doing a good thing. You are doing a
good thing, and I hope you are proud to be here. America is proud of
you. (Cheers and applause).

I also want to tell you that I have enjoyed sort of
sampling your life -- walking in the mud -- (laughter) -- imagining
what it would be like to spend six months in those beautiful tents.
(Laughter.) I like those Kevlar seats in the Humvee. (Laughter.) I
have heard all about the wonderful cuisine. We're going to have
dinner, and who knows, maybe I'll even get near-beer and vegetable
lasagna. (Laughter and applause.)

We're having a good time, and we're all cheering. But I
want you to be serious with me just for a minute. And when you go to
bed tonight, and you wonder what you're doing here, I want you to
think about this. These people for nearly four years in this country
fought the bloodiest war in Europe since the end of World War II.
Massive numbers of people displaced from their homes; huge number of
children made orphans; lots of young people walking around without
limbs; horrible things happened to people.

And because of what you and our other allies did -- our
NATO allies and our allies from Russia, from Poland and other
non-NATO countries, you know that the country has stayed on the path
of peace instead of going back into bloodshed. Without you, that
would not have happened. Without you, the warring parties never
would have disengaged, and more than -- listen to this -- more than
370,000 of them were combatant troops. They've gone back to civilian
life now.

Without you there would still be mortars and cannons
firing. Now, more than 6,500 heavy weapons have been destroyed and
the rest put under international supervision. Because of you, free
and fair elections have been held. There is freedom of movement;
police reform has begun. A lot of the airwaves now are filled with
information instead of vicious, partisan hatred.

Bosnia is no longer the powder keg at the heart of
Europe because of you. And I cannot thank you enough. Your children
and your grandchildren will look back on this moment and know that
you have done something not only of surpassing importance, but
something that is profoundly good.

We gave you a mission and you delivered. So when you go
to bed tonight, thank God that you were given a chance to do
something like this. A lot of people live their whole lives and
never ever, ever are able to give something so profoundly important
to others as the gift you have given to the children of Bosnia.

Thank you, and God bless you for it. (Cheers and applause.)

Let me also say that even though this has been a
remarkably nonviolent mission, it has not been free of risks. I was
thinking today coming here to Tuzla that in August a couple of years
ago, when we were working on the peace process, we lost three
remarkable people -- Bob Frasure, Joe Kruzel and Nelson Drew, who
were part of our team trying to make a peace agreement. And their
vehicle crumbled on a weak road, and they were killed in a horrible
accident. We had a couple of other accidents on the road. We lost
one soldier who was killed when he walked over to a mine and just
kneeled down and started dealing with it.

But the most important thing I was thinking about today,
from a purely personal point of view, is that it wasn't so very long
ago that my good friend, the Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown, was
here in Tuzla. He spent the last day of his life here before his
plane crashed. And I want to tell you, I've seen the pictures. He
had a very happy last day because he was here with the men and women
of the United States Armed Forces, glorying in and participating in
this mission.

I also want to say to you that in spite of all you have
done, I think it is imperative that we not stop until the peace here
has a life of its own, until it can endure without us. We have
worked too hard to let this go.

I thank the members of Congress from both parties who
have come here out of concern for you and your work. I want to say a
special word of thanks again to Senator Dole. He said something to
me on the phone the other day -- he says so many things that are
funny and pithy that if I start stealing his lines without
attribution I'll get in trouble. So I want to tell you -- he said
this to me. We were talking about Bosnia, and he said, look, it's
worked. He said, I didn't necessarily agree with everything you did,
but on the whole this thing has worked. And this is like being in a
football game, and we're ahead, it's the fourth quarter. Who wants
to walk off the field and forfeit the game? We ought to stay here,
finish the game and take home the win for the world and for freedom.
And that's exactly what I intend to do, thanks to what you have
proven that America can stand for and that we can accomplish. And
again I say, thank you very, very much. (Cheers and applause.)

One other thing, just for my information. How many of
you here are on your second tour here? (Cheers.) I met a young man
today, I said, how long have you been in the Army? He said, I've
been in the Army five years. And he said, the last time I saw you, I
was in Haiti. He said in five years he's done two tours in Haiti and
one tour in Bosnia. Just sort of laying around, you know.
(Laughter.)

I don't think many Americans understand exactly how deep
the burdens are on our men and women in uniform today. Because we
have downsized the military in the aftermath of the Cold War, when we
taken on these responsibilities, it is very hard for a lot of people.
We rotate these missions a little more rapidly than we would like to.
We draw out Reservists and Guardsmen more often than we would like
to. But you have always done what you were asked to do. And you
have always delivered for America.

So on this Christmas season I ask the American people,
who will see this on television tonight or tomorrow, to remember what
we owe to the Soldiers, the Sailors, the Airmen, the Marines of the
Armed Forces at home and around the world -- in the Persian Gulf, on
the DMZ in Korea, here in Bosnia -- our nation is at peace and our
people are secure because of you. Our country can grow stronger and
more prosperous, our people can live out their dreams, our children
can sleep well because of you. Your sacrifice makes this possible.

I think that one of the things that you may wonder is
whether people back home know you're here and appreciate what you're
doing. Since you've done it so well, there aren't any visible
problems, and you make it look easy.

I got a fascinating letter the other day from the mother
of a soldier stationed in Camp Eagle -- Specialist Christina
Campbell. And the mother said, so as you get busy spreading holiday
cheer, don't forget the peacekeepers and those they hold dear. And
Specialist Campbell actually wrote a poem. So I want to tell you, I
took just a little bit out of it, because I want you to know that at
this Christmas you are in the hearts of the American people. And her
words are your words. Listen to these, she says, "No, this is not
our soil and it's not our own fight. But if you've seen what I have,
then you know that it's right."